,,strong ,,souls3  ,a ,,sermon1         
,,preached ,,in  ,,renshaw ,,street     
,,chapel1 ,,liverpool1  ,,on  ,,sunday1 
,,october #bi1 #ahhb4  ,,by  ,,charles  
,,beard1 ,b4,a4  ,,printed ,,for        
,,private ,,circulation4     ,,london3  
,,printed ,,by ,c4 ,,green ,,and ,,son1 
#agh1 ,,strand4     ,in ,memory of      
,,elizabeth ,,rathbone1  ,,of           
,,greenbank1  ,,aged #ib4     ,,strong  
,,souls4  ,,john x4 #aj p4 7,revised    
,version73  ,i came that they may have  
life1 and may have it abundantly4       
,life is a gift of very unequal         
distribution4 ,i am not speaking merely 
of length of life1 though that is an    
important element in the case3 there may
 be sad and quiet years which do not    
count3 we have known existences which   
crept on in one dull round1 from petty  
pleasure to petty pleasure1 from        
monotonous occupation to monotonous     
occupation1 never roused to storm by any
 noble passion1 never thrilled by an    
electric touch of sympathy4 ,some lives 

are complete within narrow limits3 in   
the few years which are all they have1  
they ripen into perfect sweetness1 or   
expend themselves in such a flash of    
heroism1 as would make subsequent days1 
were they given1 mean and poor by       
contrast4 ,what shall we say of that    
nameless engine-driver in ,america1 who 
last week1 measuring his own life       
against six hundred more1 rushed through
 the flames and saved them8 ,dead of his
 glorious wounds1 who would dare to pity
 him1 or to think his end untimely8     
,life may be measured by its breadth as 
well as by its length3 by the number of 
its intellectual points of contact with 
humanity1 by the width of its           
sympathies1 the largeness of its hopes4 
,still more1 there is a quality of      
intensity in which lives differ3 some   
live more in a week than others in a    
year3 it is not that they are consuming 
themselves under stress of circumstance 
or in agony of passion1 but that their  
fibre is stronger1 their central flame  

brighter1 their power of endurance      
larger4 ,this inequality of gift may be 
a religious difficulty1 but it fits in  
with the whole economy of ,nature1 who  
is a ,mother at once bountiful and      
prodigal1 and while careful of the type1
 careless of the individual life2       
bidding one soul but open unconscious   
eyes upon the world and close them      
again1 while another moves through the  
slow changes of ninety years4 ,but it is
 easier to understand when we remember  
that a just ,god asks account only of   
what ,he has given4 ,within the         
narrowest fate is yet room to round off 
the perfect sphere4 ,of the lily that   
blooms to-day and fades to-morrow1 ,he  
demands only that it shall be sweet and 
beautiful in its season4  ,energy is    
largely1 though perhaps not wholly1 a   
physical quality4 ,it comes of a certain
 superb vitality1 a power of unconscious
 living1 well-strung nerves1 a          
quickly-working brain4 ,i know the      
wonders which an eager will and a keen  

conscience can work1 with no better     
instrument than a frail body1 always    
full of languors1 always accessible to  
pain2 and ,i bow before them in glad    
reverence1 as tokens of the spirit's    
victory over the flesh4 ,but this1      
though undoubtedly from a moral point of
 view not inferior1 is not the same     
thing as the easy swing of mind and body
 which is not only always equal to its  
work1 but finds its keenest delight in  
strenuous efforts and long-drawn toils1 
which would hopelessly overtax weaker   
men4 ,and there is an obvious connection
 between this kind of vitality and that 
which shows itself in life prolonged far
 beyond the usual limits4 ,men and women
 do not live the longer for sparing     
themselves1 even were long life under   
such conditions worth having4 ,i admit  
the wearing power of fretting anxiety1  
of sorrow that saps the springs of life1
 of labour pushed to contempt of the    
physical and moral conditions of        
existence2 but honest work for an honest

 purpose1 the full exercise of all the  
powers from day to day1 the steady      
strain of faculties that were meant for 
strain and which rust in disuse1 never  
hurt any one yet4 ,but the temptations  
of exuberant vitality are all1 if not to
 over-strain1 yet to a certain hardness1
 and arrogance1 and disregard of eternal
 law4 ,it is not complimentary to human 
nature to note that perfectly healthy   
people1 whom nothing tries and who are  
ignorant of pain1 are seldom tolerant1  
tender1 sympathetic1 with lives that in 
one important constituent of happiness  
are far beneath their own4 ,upon such   
the shadow of the infinite seems to fall
 but seldom4 ,they succeed in so many   
things that they undertake1 as to escape
 the sense of the impassable barriers   
that hem in all human existence4 ,the   
very fact of living is so much to them1 
that they fail to see the meaning of the
 limitations1 the shortcomings1 the     
disappointments of life4 ,they feel no  
abiding smart of a thorn in the flesh1  

and so are never forced back upon a     
higher strength than their own4 ,and yet
 it is when a nature richly endowed with
 all the elements of vitality1 and      
living from the first1 living to the    
last1 devotes itself to the highest aims
 and is supported by the highest helps1 
that we see what ,i will venture to call
 the finest triumph of grace4 ,or if the
 word triumph seem to imply a struggle1 
which is not always necessary1 and      
difficulties which may never have vexed 
the development of a vigorous life1 ,i  
will describe the result as the richest 
and sweetest harvest of the ,spirit's   
husbandry4 ,great things can be         
accomplished only by great natures1 and 
even then by the help and under the eye 
of ,god4  ,i came that they may have    
life1 and may have it abundantly4 ,life 
is the characteristic word of the great 
spiritual ,gospel from which my text is 
taken4 ,and no word can penetrate more  
deeply into the secret of ,christ than  
this does4 ,he was the sweetest1 the    

most persuasive of moral teachers2 but  
ethical principles and precepts are the 
common possession of humanity2 and that 
in which ,christ is pre-eminent over all
 sages is not so much that he gives us  
new matter of obedience1 as that he     
infuses into us a fresh power to obey4  
,i fail to see that he anywhere presents
 to us a dogmatic theological system3 ,i
 do not believe that his apostles       
succeed in throwing his teaching into   
this shape4 ,but supposing that it were 
so1 as so many men believe1 life is     
still the ultimate object1 the life of  
,god in man1 the life which quickens all
 faculties1 and casts off all           
impurities1 and rises into a higher     
stage of vitality from year to year4 ,i 
am the way1 the truth1 and the life4 ,i 
came that they may have life1 and may   
have it abundantly4 ,the bread of ,god  
is he which cometh down from heaven and 
giveth life unto the world4 ,i am the   
bread of life4 ,so1 too1 the author of  
this ,gospel1 speaking in his own       

person3 ,in him was life1 and the life  
was the light of men4 ,so ,paul3 ,the   
law of the spirit of life in ,christ    
,jesus4 ,your life is hid with ,christ  
in ,god4 ,and last of all1 in that      
antithesis so full of instruction3 ,the 
first man ,adam was made a living soul1 
the last ,adam was made a life-giving   
spirit4  ,adam's children we all are in 
the possession of a physical nature full
 of possibilities of moral good and     
evil3 the question for us is1 shall we  
be ,christ's children too8 ,i cannot    
assert that this is the only line in    
which we can inherit life3 heroes and   
saints before and apart from ,christ    
would rise up to rebuke me if ,i did4   
,god's tender mercies1 even of the most 
intimately spiritual kind1 are over all 
,his human children4 ,but it is the line
 in which we naturally stand2 and to    
stand in it ,i count the highest        
privilege of our humanity4 ,i will lay  
down no conditions of salvation where ,i
 believe ,christ has laid none down3 ,i 

will not attempt to compare his         
disciples with those of other masters3  
,i am content to know that here is a    
fountain of living waters1 which flows  
for us1 and at which those who drink    
shall never thirst again4 ,i will not   
even try to define the process by which 
a strong1 bright1 master-soul pours     
itself into poorer and narrower spirits1
 for ,i rest joyfully in the certain    
knowledge that it is so4 ,is it not     
possible to forget the fact too much in 
discussing the rationale of the process8
 ,in the last day1 that great day of the
 feast1 when the silver trumpets were   
sounding1 and the priests were bearing  
up to the temple court the water which  
they had drawn from that brook ,siloam  
which flows fast by the oracles of ,god1
 ,jesus stood and cried1 ',if any man   
thirst1 let him come unto me and drink4 
,he that believeth in me1 as the        
,scripture has said1 out of his belly   
shall flow rivers of living water4'     
,there is the whole secret4 ,all true   

life is contagious4 ,not the dull and   
dead1 but only the living1 can quicken4 
,fragrance makes fragrant3 sweetness    
imparts sweetness3 strength begets      
strength4 ,how many of us have learned  
integrity from an upright father1 and   
breathed in the confidence of faith at a
 mother's knee8 ,they gave because they 
had2 and ,christ was their              
fountain-head4  ,the religious life1 to 
some imaginations1 presents itself as   
inclining largely to the side of the    
passive and the negative4 ,it is        
abstinence from evil quite as much as   
eager realization of good4 ,on this     
view1 an air of cloistered sanctity     
hangs about it3 it is full of prayers   
and mystic raptures3 its eye is fixed   
within1 or1 if not within1 only upon    
,god4 ,it is sweet rather than strong3  
more meditative than active3 a faint    
fragrance exhales from it1 but it does  
not forget itself to grapple with wrong1
 or descend upon the arena of human woes
 and oppressions1 full of the heat of   

battle1 or1 with a careless heroism1    
spend itself to the last for the kingdom
 of ,god4 ,i do not deny the reality and
 the sweetness of this type of goodness2
 but it is not the only type1 and much  
less the type produced by the contagion 
of ,christ upon a strong nature and an  
eager vitality4 ,i have said that the   
abundant physical gift of life may carry
 with it a certain temptation to an     
unsympathizing self-sufficiency4 ,it is 
difficult not to be proud of an untiring
 energy1 and faculties that are always  
abreast of the demands made upon them1  
and an immunity from pain and languor   
which is like a double portion of       
strength4 ,but what if all these things 
are only a larger gift to lay upon the  
altar of humanity8 ,what if strength be 
used only to follow with swifter stride 
in the self-denying footsteps of        
,christ8 ,what if the sense of joyous   
energy only fortifies the soul against  
disappointment1 and makes light of      
hindrances1 and enables patience to have

 her perfect work8 ,we envy the strong  
because we think they can do more than  
we1 and enjoy more than we--in a word1  
because they live more than we4 ,let us 
envy them1 if at all1 because they have 
more than we to give to ,god and men1   
and answer with a fuller and more eager 
impulse to the breath of inspiration1   
and can throw a less infinitesimal      
weight into the scale of the ,divine    
purpose4  ,such lives1 believe me1 are  
eminently happy4 ,they have their full  
measure of sensibility1 and therefore   
their full share of trouble too4 ,what  
sorrows come to all1 do not spare them2 
and it is the quickly throbbing heart   
that is the tenderest4 ,they cannot take
 life with dull acquiescence1 being     
neither keenly glad nor greatly sorry3  
to them1 its brightness is like opening 
,paradise2 its gloom1 a very valley of  
the ,shadow of ,death4 ,and as they     
emerge out of the narrowness of their   
personal lot1 to go down into the       
ringing battle of the world1 they       

encounter blows and bruises which more  
selfish lives are able to avoid2 they   
lay bare their hearts to sorrows not    
their own1 and are stricken with the    
disappointments of mankind4 ,was it not 
a part of the secret of ,christ that his
 affections were so wide1 his sympathies
 so keen1 his identification with       
humanity so complete1 that sin not his  
own cast a shadow upon him almost like  
remorse1 and all his tears were for     
others' sorrows8 ,so is it with his     
strong and eager disciples3 they lay    
their breast against the thorn1 and     
would not have it otherwise4 ,and yet   
they are happy4 ,if it be happiness to  
have life filled to the brim with       
occupation that never tires and always  
brings with it its own reward3 to be    
conscious of the easy movement of power1
 the strong putting forth of faculty3 to
 be secure against disappointment in    
reliance upon the righteous purposes of 
,god1 which must prevail at last3 to    
have a sure escape from personal grief  

in the largeness of human sympathy and  
the vista of universal hope3 to feel1 as
 life wears away1 no disenchantment of  
purpose1 no stealing languor upon the   
will1 no freezing chill upon the heart1 
but only a passionate desire to live to 
the last in the full glow of service1   
and an absolute completeness of         
self-renunciation--then are these strong
 souls happy4 ,they cannot but find life
 good1 because everywhere in it they    
feel the touch of ,god's hand2 they see 
the skirt of ,christ's garment as he    
goes before them in the way4  ,he that  
believeth on me1 out of him shall flow  
rivers of living water4 ,the privilege  
of giving life is not ,christ's alone1  
though still his in the first instance  
and the greatest degree3 it is shared by
 all who are truly one with him in      
spirit and in work4 ,and ,i am not sure 
that a large part of the value to       
humanity of these bright and strong     
souls does not lie in the inspiration   
which goes out of them4 ,the weaker ones

 are always apt to take life in too low 
a key4 ,they are easily daunted3 they   
resign themselves1 as they say1 to the  
inevitable3 they have too keen a sense  
of evils to be overborne and            
difficulties to be confronted3 they     
learn to distrust1 if not to smile at1  
the ideal1 to call acquiescence common  
sense1 and cowardice prudence4 ,and upon
 them the presence of a strong soul1    
with its carelessness of toil1 its      
contempt of danger1 its faith in the    
better things that shall be1 its trust  
in ,god1 its generous self-abandonment  
to men1 passes like a breath of         
inspiration1 bringing shame at once and 
strength with it4 ,before such an one1  
not only does selfishness hold its      
peace1 and cynicism forget to be        
sarcastic1 but a new vigour steals into 
the irresolute will1 a fresh power of   
self-sacrifice takes possession of the  
heart4 ,the kingdom of ,god no longer   
seems a dimly glorious dream1 far off in
 a new strange world1 but an ideal that 

may be realized1 here1 upon the ruins of
 innumerable failures1 now1 in the      
depths of living human hearts4 ,it is as
 if ,god himself were somewhat nearer to
 us3 a strong faith seems to draw ,him  
down from heaven1 to build ,his         
tabernacle among men3 or if this cannot 
be1 and we know that ,he is always round
 about us1 at least the mists scatter1  
the clouds clear away1 and we catch a   
glimpse of ,his unceasing activity1 of  
,his eternal rest4 ,i cling to the      
thought that at some time or other the  
soul of every one of ,his children is in
 direct communication with ,him2 but for
 the most part ,he speaks to us by other
 human lips1 and strong1 clear1 white   
lives are the ladder by which we climb  
to ,him4 ,so down the ages we trace the 
golden thread of the succession of      
,saints1 ,christ the first1 afterwards  
they that are his1 in turn receiving1 in
 turn giving life1 blessed and          
blessing--till at last the kingdom      
comes4         99       99       99     

99       99  ,you know of whom ,i have  
been speaking1 friends and              
fellow-worshippers3 though ,i have named
 no name1 you have interpreted my       
meaning1 you have read between my lines4
 ,and now that we are about to part1    
with regretful love and honour freely   
paid1 with the oldest of those who have 
loved this place1--and1 in parting with 
her1 to bid good-bye for ever to a      
generation of pious men and women who in
 their day served ,god and wrought      
righteousness1--,i have one last appeal 
to make4 ,and ,i make it far less to the
 middle-aged1 whose habits are fixed1   
whose principles chosen1 and who have   
taken a course in life which they will  
not lightly abandon1 than to the young1 
whose nature is yet plastic1 and who may
 make of their existence what they will4
 ,i ask them1 ,is the life which ,i have
 tried to describe worth living8 or is  
there any other method by which they    
think the highest objects of existence  
can be more completely attained8 ,is    

there any finer discipline for their    
powers than the service of ,god1 any    
nobler education than the fellowship of 
,christ8 ,i do not plead with them for  
allegiance to any particular form of    
,christianity1 though we have a right to
 rejoice in the strength and sweetness  
of our own ,saints1 and ,i might argue  
that the faith which issues in such     
fruit of holy living cannot be without  
its just claim to respect4 ,but my      
interest is at once deeper and wider    
than this3 ,i plead for ,christianity1  
,i plead for ,religion2 for the awe of  
,god1 for the love of ,christ1 for the  
service of man4 ,we are falling upon    
careless times1 when the world is too   
much with us1 and the love of ease      
seduces us1 and we flit--thinking1 ,god 
help us6 that it is pleasure--from one  
facile excitement1 from one selfish     
gratification1 to another4 ,we live in a
 sceptical age1 when knowledge and faith
 find it hard to come to terms1 and     
there is always an excuse for           

disbelieving truths which startle the   
soul into seriousness and make a painful
 demand upon the will4 ,but whatever    
else is false1 one thing remains        
true--that the service of ,god is       
strength and peace and freedom4 ,christ 
still holds the secret of life3 ,if any 
man will come after me1 let him deny    
himself and take up his cross and follow
 me4 ,for whosoever will save his life  
shall lose it1 and whosoever will lose  
his life for my sake shall find it4     
,amen4